Day trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina – why go?

When we went to Croatia last July, we decided to take a day trip to this beautiful country. We booked our tour through GetYourGuide for about £50 each (not dirt cheap but for a whole day our including travel and a fantastic guide it felt like really good value).

It was such an interesting and exciting day, I think it’s safe to say we both loved every second of it, there was so much of their history that we just weren’t aware of and it was fascinating to learn about it and become more aware of the atrocities the people of this region faced.

The departure time from a hotel near to our Airbnb was around 8am which sounds early but it can take quite a while to get over the boarder depending on how busy it is. Fortunately, the day we went coincided with the date of the World Cup final which Croatia was playing, so literally no one was leaving the country! After having our passports checked by security, we were in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Although the drive to our first destination, Kravice Waterfalls, was around 2 and a half hours, we made a quick pit stop on the way and the fantastic scenery meant you were never bored. Getting to the falls at around 11am meant that it was just starting to get busier but it didn’t feel at all crowded.

After paying the 5 euro entry fee (trust us, its worth it) we walked about 5 minutes down a walkway to get to the main falls. Our expectations were blown away when I saw them – they really are beautiful and the fact you can swim in them and actually explore them made it even more exciting. We spent about 2 hours here, but could easily have spent the whole day. There are a couple of small places to get food around the falls, but you are also welcome to bring your own. If I get the opportunity to come back to Bosnia and Herzegovina I will definitely be coming back here.

Just one more thing to note before we move on – don’t be afraid if you see a snake slithering through the water as they are perfectly harmless. We came across one by the rocks of the falls which startled us because we weren’t sure whether the tour guide was lying or not about their being snakes, but you could see it was just minding its own business and it was actually kind of cute.

After having a splash about in the falls, we got back into our minibus and headed off to our next destination – Mostar. If you haven’t heard of this place before you’re not the only one, neither of us had either. It is honestly beautiful, the town centre with the magnificent bridge and the ancient buildings is like being in a fairy-tale, it felt really magical being there.

We first had a tour of the area from our guide so we could get our bearings and learn more about why this town is the way it is. As I said before we both knew very little about the Yugoslavia Wars and I was shocked to hear how recent segregation was a thing in this town between the Muslims and the Croats, and how it tore families apart. I found the whole tour very moving, and made me want to learn more.

After the guided tour, we had a bit of time to ourselves to explore the town and get something to eat. We wanted to try some authentic food from this area, so we selected a restaurant that promised this (unfortunately I can’t remember what this restaurant was called, sorry!). After sitting down and looking through the menu, we decided to share a huge plate of food with all kinds of meat and sides cooked the traditional Yugoslavian way. It was honestly delicious, we didn’t even finish the whole plate and were stuffed. And the best part? The whole meal with drinks came to just 5 euros! This is because of the poor state of the economy in this country, but it does mean it is a really cheap place to travel.

Another place of interest in Mostar was the Old Bridge, a landmark of this town and also a place for daredevils. Young men (and sometimes women!) come to this bridge just to jump off it into the river below. This is pretty scary, seen as the bridge is 23m high and the river below is pretty quick and very cold. This one is not for the fainthearted, but it is quite a spectacle to watch I have to say.

We also visited the Turkish House in Mostar as a ticket was included with the price of the day trip. It was a great example of architecture but there was very little information about it so we weren’t really sure what we were looking at a lot of the time, but it was pretty. My favourite bit was befriending the tortoise that lives in the cobbled garden, he was really friendly!

At around 5pm we got back into the minibus to start our journey back to Dubrovnik. I was asleep for the majority of the journey bar the border where they had to check our passports again (although they were definitely more interested in the match as they barely glanced at the bus). But anyway, David said there were some lovely views on the way home as well, so it you can stay awake do!

Neither of us had really done a day trip to a different country before but it was really great, it felt like a whole other holiday within a holiday as it was such a contrast from the sandy beaches in Dubrovnik to the almost jungle-like feel of Kravice waterfalls.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our little Bosnia and Herzegovina excursion, and I really hope that you all get the opportunity to do this too because it was amazing.

Happy travelling!

Zoe and David x

Written by Zoe